Fred James Eckert[1] (born May 6, 1941) is an American politician and diplomat who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from New York's 30th congressional district for one term.

[3] As a college student, he sold two magazine articles, one to Writer's Digest about lessons he had learned from Bruce Catton,[4] the other to Family Weekly, about billionaire H. L. Hunt,[5] with whom he later conducted a Playboy interview.

[10] Congressional Quarterly ranked Eckert as the member of Congress most supportive of President Reagan[11] and Reader's Digest ran a profile feature portraying him as an example of the sort of "gutsy" leader unintimidated by special interests that Washington needs.

[15] He resigned as US ambassador and returned from Rome to the United States and private life to accept an offer from the Government of Fiji to be a strategic advisor after the 1987 Fijian coups d'état.

[18] His early age interest in, and knowledge about, history and government was such that the nuns who operated Saint Charles Borromeo Elementary School had him teach eighth grade social studies to his fellow eighth-graders.

[22] A semi-professional photographer, his images have also appeared in books, magazines, advertisements, encyclopedias, postcards and travel brochures throughout the world and have won awards in competitions.